


Whiskers and Wings

by CosmoandWanda



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, Alternate Universe - Stripper/Exotic Dancer, Angst, Cute, F/M, Fluff, I'm really not sure where this story is going, It's not that small anymore, Oops where did this small amount of angst come from, Self-Indulgent, Silly, alya and nino established relationship, implied PTSD, implied chloenette, tw: stalking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-02
Updated: 2018-05-29
Packaged: 2019-04-17 09:49:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 20,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14186265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CosmoandWanda/pseuds/CosmoandWanda
Summary: “Whatever, look, LB’s got pole classes with Tikki today, and I know you’re head over for her, so you owe me, but I think we’re gonna set up a pair act for you too. Be at the club in 10. You will need your mask, but find something short to wear. Your server outfit isn’t gonna cut it.” He said gruffly before hanging up. Adrien stared at his phone screen before leaping off the couch.Chat Noir is a security guard and server at a local strip club. Ladybug is a dancer and is working on becoming the club's top act. Marinette and Alya live across the hall from Alya's boyfriend, Nino, and his roommate Adrien.





	1. Notes and Wings

**Author's Note:**

> Hey kiddies, I don't really know where this story is going but I felt like I really needed a stripper AU mixed with the meet-cute laundromat sorta situation...

Adrien stared into his laundry basket, trying not to let the blush creep up his face. Somehow he must’ve grabbed a few of someone else's clothes and threw them in the dryer with his, which wouldn’t be too big of a deal- if he didn’t recognize the bra sitting neatly on his dress shirt.

Glancing around the laundromat, he scanned for dark hair and swathes of pale freckled skin, knowing it likely wouldn’t be tinted with the red and blue lights that usually contextualized it. Letting out a breath, he deemed the coast clear, before quickly folding the rest of his clothes on top if his co-workers floor outfit. 

 

***

Marinette was beside herself. In an unusual display of responsibility, she had done her laundry before three in the morning, and somehow her favorite outfit for floor work was missing, It’s not that it would be too much of a fuss to whip up another, but the particular tule she had used to make little wings on the back of her bra was such a bitch to sew. She sighed before hoisting the rest of her laundry basket onto her hip, ready to make the trek back up to her apartment.

As she rounded the last flight of stairs, she nearly dropped everything. Blonde hair shook as the owner of said hair grumbled under his breath. 

 

“Hi-hi! Adrien, right? I’m uh, I’m Marinette, Alya and I live of the other side of you… are… do you need help?” She managed, hoping her initial floundering wasn’t too obvious. 

“Oh hey, sorry, I would shake your hand but…” He nodded his head towards his hand, where a meticulously folded laundry basket was balanced antop his forearms while his hands fiddled with some keys and the deadbolt. “I’ve managed to forget which key is the right key, but also if i move my arms, then I’ll move the door out of it’s alignment with its lock…” He said, once again shaking his hair out of his eyes.

“Well, I happen to be pretty good with locks, mind if I try?” She said, already putting her basket on the floor. He sighed and smiled.

“Be my guest, if you do get it open, watch out for the cat, he’s a bit of a runner.” She took the keys from him, flipping through the different codes printed on each. Decided to try one that had a similar code to hers, she pulled her full weight onto the door before sliding the key into the lock. Seconds later, it swung open. Marinette turned to face her new friend, and was met by an incredulous stare.

“How the hell?? Not even the landlord could get the door open that fast! How did you know what key it would be?” Marinette blushed and laughed nervously.

“Oh, I work in a building nearby, they all have similar tricks after a while, I mean I just moved in a few weeks ago but the code on my key was pretty close to the one that worked, and I remember mine because it’s LB-07, like a lucky ladybug!” He stared at her for a beat before bursting out laughing.

“Lucky Ladybug, huh? That’s pretty cute. What’s my code? LB-08?”

“LB-13, looks like you’ve just got a cursed door,” she said warmly. 

“I am known to have bad luck, looks like we’ll just have to see each other every time I have to get into my apartment, huh?” He winked, picking up his laundry. “Oh actually, I suppose since our roommates are dating, we’ll probably spend quite some time together anyways? I’ll catch you around, Marinette. Thanks.” 

Marinette stifled a squeal once the door shut behind him, suddenly frantic to get inside her own apartment. With a brief fumble with her keys, she burst in, shouting for her roommate over her laundry. 

“ALYA! Als you were right you were so right I- oh what the fuck.” She dropped her basket with a thud, placing fists on her hips as she surveyed their living room. She and Alya both kept pretty odd hours due to their jobs, but it hadn’t been more than a day since she saw the area in the daylight, so there was no excuse for the sea of papers and photos spread in what Marinette knew to be organized chaos. “Alya, I thought you said you were only going to do this at your office? You know, the place where we don’t live?”

“Leave me alone, I got a lead on something, but needed more space than that broom closet they call an office to work out the pattern,” a disgruntled voice came from under a blanket. “I was napping anyway, I’ve been working on this since we got off our shift yesterday. What was I right about?”

“Oh! I… I just ran into Adrien.” She said with a forced nonchalance. Suddenly, the blanket entombing her friend was thrown across the room. 

“You did? How was it, were Nino and I right, was it love at first sight, please please tell me you didn’t freeze once you saw how adorable he was, I know he’s your type but girl we work at a strip club for godssake, you can’t freeze up at every dude-”

“I dunno about love at first sight, but I did impress him by getting his door open, and he laughed. Alya. Alya have you ever heard an angel laugh? I was grumpy because my ladybug set is missing, but that laugh just solved all of my life’s problems,” she sighed dramatically, throwing herself across Alya’s lap. “Adrien is just how a respectable man should be,” she giggled, throwing a hand to her forehead. Alya couldn’t help but laugh.

“Calm down there Jane Bennet, you’ve just barely talked to him! What do you mean your ladybug set is missing?”

“Oh, well I did laundry and I made the mistake of setting it aside because I was going to hang dry it, but I guess I forgot to bring it back, so I guess someone now has the infamous Ladybug’s most comfortable outfit.” She pouted as Alya gently carded her fingers through her hair. “I mean, it’s not like I don’t have others I can wear, but Alya that was the only one without an underwire!! I hate doing work with an underwire, my tips don’t stay as well…” Alya choked out a laugh.

“Okay, fair, but we both know it’s more because a certain security guard said it was his favorite and you and I both know it.” Marinette flushed, spluttering out a reply.

“Chat is just my friend! Like when Cupid said he thought your new fox ears were cute! That doesn’t mean he’s into you!” Alya rolled her eyes. 

“Cupid is gay Mari. You know he and Max are dating. Plus, I didn’t start wearing them on nights I knew he would be working after that comment.” She added, side eyeing Marinette. 

“One, rude. Two, I don’t even know Chat’s schedule. Tikki likes to schedule us on the same nights because when he serves-”

“-and you’re on floor, we always get more orders because you two won’t stop eye-fucking each other, I know.” Alya finished, unceremoniously dumping Marinette onto the floor as she stood up. “Speaking of work, don’t you have pole today? What time does that start?” Marinette blanched. 

“Fuck, I forgot all about that, I’d better eat before going. Tikki is not going easy on me during these lessons.” She grabbed some snacks and shoved them into the gym bag Alya already had packed for her, knowing her best friend all too well. “Love you Als, see you later!”

***

Adrien started at the buzz of his phone, hastily shoving his mask into his bag.

“Hi, this is Adrien-”

“Kid, do you ever check your caller ID.”

“Hey Plagg, nice to hear from you too, I’m doing great, thanks for asking.”

“Whatever, look, LB’s got pole classes with Tikki today, and I know you’re head over for her, so you owe me, but I think we’re gonna set up a pair act for you too. Be at the club in 10. You will need your mask, but find something short to wear. Your server outfit isn’t gonna cut it.” He said gruffly before hanging up. Adrien stared at his phone screen before leaping off the couch. 

“Yes yes yes!!!” He chanted, doing a small victory dance. Nino poked his head through the doorframe. 

“Did that girl you’ve been crushing on ask you out?”

“No! Even better, they’re gonna let me work with her!” Adrien said giddily, throwing what he might qualify as “shorter” clothes into his bag.

“Don’t you already work together?” Nino asked, clearly more amused at his friend than interested in the conversation.

“Not like this! I can’t wait, I gotta go! Bye dude, love you!”

“Alight loverboi, have fun with your girlfriend!” He called, ignoring the middle finger Adrien raised before disappearing outside of the apartment.


	2. First Practice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Alright, now I’m assuming Plagg has given you a small run down, but I'll explain more fully. As you two know, your… chemistry, is very popular among our customers..."

Ladybug was already at the studio when he arrived, sat in perfect splits while she and Tikki talked. He stood in the doorway for half a second longer than he meant to, catching Tikki’s eye.

“Ah, I see our surprise has showed up. Come in dear, why don’t you just follow Ladybug’s stretching for right now.” She said, gesturing to the splayed out girl near her. Ladybug raised her head, smiling brightly at Chat. He felt his throat constrict as he made his way over to his lady. 

 

“Alright, now I’m assuming Plagg has given you a small run down, but I'll explain more fully. As you two know, your… chemistry, is very popular among our customers, and we have long been fielding off requests for Chat to join the dancers, and after some deliberation, we would like the two of you to become a main act. Pole, specifically. Now, we know Chat is also one of our most efficient security members, so we will be interviewing for a new server to still aid with that. Thoughts? Questions?” She asked. 

“Can we recommend people for my job?” Adrien asked, watching Ladybug bend into a pigeon stretch. He tried to do the same.

“I trust your judgement, but as you know everyone must agree on the applicant. Send them my way, and we’ll set them up with an alias.” Tikki said as she bent down to help 

Chat reposition his legs. Her small heels clacked as they continued to chat, going through what felt like an entire workout of stretches before she sharply clicked her heel on the floor.

Ladybug popped up from the floor, and offered Chat a hand.

“Alright Minou, you ready to die? Tikki is one hell of a teacher, but god damn does this hurt.” She said, nudging his shoulder once he got to his feet.

“Lady, don’t scare him off. You’ll do fine Chat. Mostly what you’ll be doing in the beginning is actually acting as a spotter for Ladybug, like a safety precaution that also is an accessory,” she laughed. 

Ladybug grumbled something about not needing a safety net as she hooked her hand around the pole. Chat felt slightly out of place, it was clear Ladybug had an expectation of how class was going to go, and Chat didn’t even have a clue what she would need a spotter for, let alone how they could sell it to their customers. 

“Okay, for right now, I’d like you to go through most of what you know while I work with basic positioning with chat, okay?”

“Sure, but don’t blame me if he gets distracted Tikki,” Ladybug replied with mirth. Chat glared at her, making eye contact just in time for her to send him a salacious wink. With that, she swung herself around the pole, and Adrien finally realized that he was screwed.

Tikki laughed silently at the blonde boy. She knew once they got started, he would see the technique and less of the performance, but for right now, she might as well let him enjoy it.

“Earth to Chat Noir! We’re going to be practicing catching for just right now, but you’ve got to pay attention. Even though I know how to land if I fall, I will still be depending on you to catch me- got it?” She said, hands resting on her wide hips. “Also, this means if you can catch me and all my squish, you’ll have no problem catching little miss over there.” She smiled widely, gesturing from her wider form to Ladybug’s lithe one. 

Chat grinned. Tikki was always the nicer of the two club owners, and though she mostly worked with the dancers, it was well known among the servers that she was really the one to be feared over her husband. Sure, Plagg was a grumpy middle aged man with occasionally sharp words, but his wife in all her five foot glory could deadlift you and simultaneously give you the worst lecture of your life. No one was quite sure which would be worse. During work, she let her natural curls frame her face, only occasionally going for braids, but during heavy training she would twist her hair back, wrapping a bright red ribbon at the topmost one. 

She and Plagg operated in entirely black outfits, though each would allow themselves on splash of their defining colors; a red bow for Tikki, and a Green pocket square for Plagg. Those colors would then be the signature colors of their principal dancers, and Ladybug had long ago earned her dazzling red outfits. Chat had also been allowed to wear green chain links on his server’s outfit, and realized with some excitement he would likely be getting a largely green costume in a short amount of time. 

“Okay children, now I’m going to work through what a potential basic routine will look like as you guys are still learning. Chat, you will start here, place your hand on the pole, while Lady you’ll have your back to the pole and your arms raised. Perfect- now, ladybug, grab the pole and pull your legs up around Chat’s waist. Chat, spread your legs a little, you need to be supporting her with your other hand, just- no not on her leg- for heaven's sake we work a strip club Chat, put your hand under her butt.” 

Chat was blushing furiously at the position they had been directed into, with Ladybug’s legs wrapped snugly around his wait, he was almost parallel as he leaned over her to keep their hands on the pole. Tikki continued to direct them through a series of actions, ending with ladybug holding herself up on the pole by her legs, her face inches from his.   
“Now, Chat, this is where the catching we did earlier is coming in. Ladybug is going to hold the pole with her arms, and throw her legs over your shoulders. Then, you need to grab her sides because now she’ll be hanging without any contact with the pole, slide your hands over her arms, and pull her up so she’s sitting up, and hold for one- two- three- and then you will lift her while she kicks her legs out, and you help her land into the splits. Got it?” 

Chat nodded, and slowly tried to keep balance as his Lady hooked her legs into an awkward angle around his shoulders. She looked up at him, breathing hard and face screwed up in concentration. He could hear her lightly counting out beats. He wondered what sort of song they would have to do this routine to, because he was sure it would become the soundtrack of his dreams.

Ladybug shivered slightly as he ran his hands over her arms before quickly hoisting her up. She knew they would both likely have quite a few bruises from today, but there was such trust and confidence in his grip on her that she didn’t really mind. Slowly he let her sink into the splits, finally letting go of his hold, only to take her hand and kiss it. 

“Beautiful as always, my lady” he said, helping her to her feet. She laughed lightly, too out of breath to retort with anything else. Tikki smiled at the pair. They reminded her so much of some of their other successful dancers, dancers who almost inevitably ended up paired off before their first season together was over. Tikki laughed to herself. What can she say? She has an affinity for red string.

****

 

Marinette arrived home from practice sweaty and out of breath. She was so glad Tikki was counting their hours of practice as part of their job and was therefore paid, because she wasn’t sure if she could do practice and her usual floor shift. Sometimes the cage was better, but then she couldn't steal sips of Chat’s strategically placed water cups. She leaned her head on her apartment door. She needed to make another ladybug outfit that had wings. She needed to eat. She needed to shower. She groaned slightly, and started the process of locating her keys from her gym bag. 

“Uh, Marinette?” She heard a small voice behind her say. She yelped, dropping to the floor. “Oh my gosh I’m sorry! Are you okay?” the voice said. She looked up and saw Adrien’s face looking down at hers with concern. 

“Adrien! How funny to run into each other twice in one day! I mean, I’m fine, you just scared me, not that you’re scary, I’m just tired, it’s just-” she trailed off, letting a beat of silence pass before getting to her feet. “Sorry. What’s up?” 

“Um, I just got back from… a run. I was wondering why you were trying to get into my apartment?” He said, raising a hand to the back of his neck. She slowly glanced at the number on the door, and proceeded to let out the longest sigh Adrien had ever heard. 

“I just got back from some practice stuff for work, and it’s really physical, sorry, I’m so tired and didn’t really have more than some fruit and cheese before heading out, I’m gonna go to my actual apartment now...” she said, trudging the few feet from his door to hers.

“Hey, me too! If you want, you can come over and have dinner if you’re too tired to make anything, Nino and Alya are probably out for dinner, and I’d hate for you to starve.” He offered, completely unaware of the sudden state his question had put Marinette in. 

“I-uh, I mean, I’ve got to shower, and we just met today, not to say, I mean, I would love to, but are you sure?” Adrien blinked, taken aback by the rush of words. 

“Um, well, if you want to, it’ll probably be done in like an hour, I have to shower first… too? I think that’s what you said anyway. See you in a bit, but no pressure if you’d rather not!” He finished, cheerfully, while struggling to open his door. Marinette found her keys and slipped inside while Adrien was still battling the lock. 

The sea of papers had been condensed into three neat stacks Marinette noted as she worked her way to the bathroom. She would have to thank Alya later. Turning the shower on full blast, Marinette worked on stretching out her shoulders and arms. Practice had been a lot of fun, but she couldn’t help but feel that something was up with Chat. He seemed perfectly fine most of practice, but there were moments where he seemed self-conscious. That wouldn’t do, especially if she was the one causing it. She had hung back a while Chat left to ask Tikki about what she though, but her mentor had just shrugged. 

“I think you should just sleep with him. It seems like it’s more about his perceived boundaries with you, and that would certainly take care of it!” She laughed at Marinette’s groan. 

“What? It would also make both your day’s, don’t lie to me!” She sing-songed, leaving Marinette to suddenly cringe and blush the whole way home. 

Stepping into the hot spray, she let her thoughts linger on the actual advice Tikki provided her. Was Chat nervous about her boundaries? Should she be more nervous about his?   
It’s true that this new set up meant they were a lot more physical than they had been before, but one of the crowd favorites was when Chat let her ride on his shoulders so they could hand out drinks. They always had been very close, ever since he had started working at Chez Nuit. His first day was also the first day someone tried to touch Marinette during her routine, and Chat had been flawless in his save. He picked her up from behind, whispered a faint instruction, and spun her out of his hold, all while signaling the bouncer to come and remove the man. No one was any the wiser, and from that day, she had often incorporated Chat into her routines. She liked to joke he was her favorite prop, because none of the scarves or ropes could also help her sneak water breaks.She shook her head. She would ask him tomorrow. They needed to be open with each other, that was the only way this was going to work. 

Resolve set, she rinsed any lingering suds off, and stepped into the foggy room. There was a faint knocking coming from somewhere outside, so she peeked her head out.

“Alya? Are you home?” she called. There was no reply but the continued knocking. She tied her towel tighter around her. “Alya did you misplace your keys again?” She opened the door. 

Adrien jerked his head up. 

“Oh thank god I wasn’t sure if you could hear me, can you work whatever magic it is you know on my door to get it open?” He rushed out. She smiled and nodded. He finally seemed to take in her largely-not-dressed state. “Oh, I’m so stupid, you said you needed to shower. I should’ve waited longer before trying to get you to help!”

“It’s okay, I usually don’t take very long!” She pulled against the door and Adrien handed her the key. She slid it into the lock, and frowned. “There’s something on the other side of the door. Have you asked Nino if he and Alya are perhaps, otherwise engaged, in your apartment?” She stifled a giggle as his ears flushed. 

“I uh, no, we hadn’t had a chance to talk about, how to signal if, if the apartment needed to be... “ He hung his head. “I just wanted to shower man.” He put his face into the small crack Mari had managed to get open and shouted to the residents within, “Not cool man! Warn me!” they both fell silent, only to have it interrupted by muffled laughter. 

“That answers that then. Since you already invited me over, how about you come in? I’ll even let you shower if you would like,” Marinette teased. Adrien nodded glumly, playing up his disappointment. 

“I guess I'll have to go hang out with Marinette. Someone who I met today. Who is ALREADY A BETTER FRIEND.” He shouted over his shoulder to the barricaded door. Another round of giggles and a small “love you bro!” was heard.

 

Once in the apartment, Marinette explained where the shower and spare towels might be, and if you could just wait for one moment while I get dressed and I’ll see what PJ’s I have that might fit you’s had been uttered. She waited for the sound of the shower before deciding to head into the kitchen. There were slim options today, as both Marinette and Alya had neglected to go to the store that week. She pulled out a pot and started to boil some water, reaching for noodles and a freezer bag of chopped vegetables. 

“Looks like it’s going to be fancy ramen tonight,” she muttered to herself, and set to work. 

By the time the shower had shut off, Marinette had started singing softly to herself, running through small steps she had been thinking of incorporating into her routine. The collection of sauces and oils cluttered the meager counter space, but the broth was now an acceptable flavor, and all of the components were coming together. She dropped into a one legged squat, rolling her hips from side to side and she worked her way back up to standing before grabbing a handful of the bottles and spinning to put them back in their proper cupboard. She threw her hair, letting her Mid-2000s’ mental radio carry her back over the the stove, where she prodded at the noodles and instructed them to shut up and drive. 

There was a small cough behind her, and she jumped.

“I didn’t want to disturb you, but I was wondering where you wanted me to hang this towel?” Adrien said with a wide grin. Marinette flushed. 

“How long have you been standing there! You can hang it over the curtain rod. Did you just stand there and watch me serenade our dinner?” Adrien laughed as way means of replying, letting her stew in her own embarrassment. “Do you want an egg in your ramen?” She called after he turned the corner. “Also, I hope you like ramen!” she added as an afterthought.

“Sure! Thanks for making dinner Marinette!” He replied, making his way back to where she had two filled bowls set on the counter. Marinette handed him an egg as she cracked her own, frantically stirring the hot broth to create thin strips of egg. Adrien watched, seemingly fascinated, before he tried it himself. 

As it turns out, there is some amount of practice required for a one-hand egg crack, practice that Adrien did not have. He whipped his head up to look at Marinette as his hands became covered in raw yolk, but to his surprise she burst out laughing.

“You’re not mad? I just got your counter filthy!!” He whined, only making Marinette laugh harder. She handed him a wet paper towel. 

“You were so confident!! How on earth did you even manage to spray the egg like that? At least most of the stuff from your hand made it into the soup!” He pouted, trying to fish the small bits of eggshell out of his dinner. “Gosh that was so funny. Why don’t you go find something for us to watch while we eat dinner, I’ll get the eggshells out,” she added as he burned himself for the second time. 

As soon as they were seated on the couch, Adrien showed Marinette his choice of movie. 

“You really want to watch Rocky Horror? Alya and I haven’t met too many other people who like it!” She said. 

“The people I work for love this movie, it helped them open a place that was LGBTQ friendly because they would do sing along nights where they could also get feedback about what a good… meeting place… would look like. If it were to be accessible and stuff.” He added, hoping Marinette didn’t notice his hesitance around coming up with a lie. She looked at him oddly, but seemed do decide better of it, and shrugged.

Adrien never really knew when to break out the strip club icebreaker. It wasn’t that they had to keep it a secret, Nino knew who he was and where he worked, but the club did pride themselves on autonomy. Workers all went by aliases in and out of the club, and wore masks. Plagg and Tikki were the only two who ever went without, but after one of their dancers was stalked, they decided that it was better off for everyone if there were no real names involved.

There was the added bonus that the customers loved it, and sometimes it was so easy to let your alter-ego become someone entirely different from the person the rest of the world saw. Many of the dancers knew each other outside of the mask, as did many of the security guards, but that was more a result of the hiring process Chez Nuit used. In order to ensure everyone felt safe and on board with new hires, there was an initial interview with Tikki and Plagg, that, upon going well, led to a group interview with everyone. This meant that friends of workers were often hired, and soon enough there was just a big family. 

Adrien remembered he wanted to ask Nino about interviewing for being the new server, and shot him a quick text as Susan Sarandon sang about her engagement. 

Marinette had quickly polished off her food and bundled herself into a small ball at the opposite end of the couch to Adrien, she was lip-syncing to the songs, and realized on some of them, Adrien was doing the same. She laughed as he noticed her, and they slowly built up the theatrics until both of them were practically shouting the lyrics to the time warp. 

At some point they had gotten off the couch, and were dancing around like teenagers at a sleepover. In the middle of their incredibly dramatized Sweet Transvestite, the door to the apartment swung open. Nino and Alya stood in the doorway, flabbergasted at the pair who were dancing together. 

Marinette turned and started working her way over to Alya, before swiftly dipping her, and then turning her out towards Adrien. They laughed as Alya took the hint, and joined their dance party. Nino walked over to the couch, where he sat watching his three friends manically dance and sing their way through the rest of the song.   
Once it ended, Marinette moved her and Adrien’s dishes to the sink and got them all glasses of water, why Alya and Nino apologized not too-wholeheartedly to Adrien.

“Sorry man, I just didn’t know how else to keep you from being scarred!” Nino laughed as Adrien socked his arm.

“Your door has a lock on it Lahiffe! Unless you were in the living room it would have been fine!” Alya made a small snort. 

“Sunshine, locks do not make doors soundproof. We were doing you a favor.” She said, taking the glass Marinette handed her.

“It’s alright, Adrien and I figured it out!” Marinette chriped. “We had a ton of fun. Plus, I made dinner!” She said proudly, while Alya appropriately clapped.

“It sure looks like it. I’ve only met Adrien a few times myself, but it looks like you two are well on your way to being friends,” Alya said, shooting Marinette a wink.

“Yeah dudes, I’ve known Marinette for years and haven’t been invited for a dance party, what gives?” Nino whined. Marinette stuck out her tongue.

“Listen Lahiffe, just because I’ve known you since we were 12 doesn’t mean that you have earned dance party status. I let Adrien pick the movie and it turned into a dance party. You always pick action movies so Alya will think you’re tough!” The group laughed as Nino pouted, but soon enough the boys started to pack up and leave.  
As soon as the pair of girls heard the apartment door shut, Alya whirled on Marinette.

“What was that? You guys met today! Girl I am so proud of you!” She squealed in quick succession. Marinette blushed.

“I don’t know! It feels like we’ve been friends for years… he kind of reminds me of Chat, you know? Oh hey, speaking of..” Marinette settled in to tell Alya about the new act and weird vibe she got from Chat at practice. Alys listened attentively, and once Marinette came to a stop, she took a deep breath.

“Okay, let’s look at the facts. Fact one, Chat is in love with you.”

“That is NOT a fact!”

“Fact two, you now are being paid to look as turned on by each other as you actually are-”

“ALSO not a fact!”

“And fact three, he’s a little shy about the change. I think you planning on talking to him is a good one, but I also agree with Tikki.”

“That he’s worried about boundaries?”

“No, that y’all need to sleep together and get it over with.” Alya said with a grin. She shot off the couch and ran into her room before Marinette could tackle her, laughing the whole while.

“What happened to trying to get me with Adrien?” Marinette said as she lightly banged her head against Alya’s door. 

“Why not both?” Was Alya’s cackled reply. Marinette groaned and headed to her own room.

“You’re a traitor and you’re lucky you’ve got a cute butt and a good personality!” She called over her shoulder. 

 

Sliding into her bed, Marinette slowly let the day wash over her. It had been good. She knew she would sleep heavily from practice, and was glad to have gotten out her anxious energy in her dance party with Adrien. She smiled to herself, feeling her face heat up. Adrien. She really did feel so calm around him. It was like someone took her favorite parts of all her friends, and rolled them into one stupidly handsome boy who happened to live right across from her.

She snuggled deeper under the covers. There were worse unexpected surprises, after all. Might as well appreciate the ones that come attached to a super cute body.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well I hope you like it! This chapter was a lot longer and I hope is more of the status quo as it continues!


	3. Unexpected Suprises

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chat needs to get Ladybug her costume back without getting too close to their personal lives.

Marinette woke slowly to the sounds of shuffling papers and the kettle being turned on. Alya was likely getting ready for her day job at the local branch of Teen Vogue, a decision that had surprised both her and her best friend, but had turned out to be an amazing opportunity. Most recently Alya had been working on an article series about places that were the most woman-friendly in the city, and had come across an interesting pattern. It’s hard to present the information that nowhere is really safe in a palatable way, so much of her work had turned into getting owners of restaurants, clubs, and shops to come up with plans to improve their locations.

Marinette had only recently gotten Alya hired at Chez Nuit, and was pretty sure that her writing job would always stay her top priority. Marinette, on the other hand, had been working at the club for four years. She was originally hired as the club’s in house seamstress, but quickly rose the ranks as a dancer. She still did people’s first costumes for them, but usually Tikki and Plagg prefered her to show up without a wide variety of colored band-aids.

She jolted at the realization she still hadn’t done anything about her missing ladybug outfit, tearing out of her room into the frey of Alya’s pre-work frenzy.

“Als, I’ve gotta run to the shops to at least find another wire-free bra before tonight, do you need anything? You’re working both nights this weekend, right? I’ll get groceries while I’m out.”

“Um, no, I’m good, if you were the owner of a restaurant that didn’t like the idea of having security cameras in the seperate arcade where girls were notoriously harrased, what would you possibly have a security measure?” Her roommate replied, fixing her glasses on the top of her head as she scanned some documents.

“I would hire someone I trusted to-”

“Marinette, you always essentially suggest to have a Chat Noir stationed everywhere, that is not the goal!” Alya huffed, finally looking up at her. Marinette smiled and handed Alya the tea she had left on the counter.

“I mean, that’s what would make me feel safe. I suppose I would change the walls so I could see into the arcade, assuming we’re talking about that pizza place that has the arcade in its backroom?” Alya made a noise of understanding at Marinette’s comment, and got to work re-shuffling the files.

Marinette set about getting ready for her outing. Monday’s were usually the only days that Marinette had an early shift at Chez Nuit, from opening at 5:00 to 11:00, and Tikki only wanted an hour of practice today, so she knew she would have enough time to at least start on customizing whatever she bought. Maybe she could also get Chat’s measurements for his costume.

Calling out an affectionate goodbye to Alya, she left their apartment. 

***

 

Adrien wasn’t very sure what to do. Monday’s were the one day he and Ladybug we’re not scheduled to work together usually, and he had gotten a text from Plagg suggesting that their original hour of practice would be a lot more than that for him. Adrien had also intended to bring Nino in, as he had seemed pretty excited to potentially work there. 

He knew he needed to get Ladybug’s outfit to her before her shift today, but despite the two years they had known each other, she was still fairly insistent about keeping their real lives separate from the club. He worried that showing up to practice saying “looks like we use the same laundromat, by the way I live in the building attached to it, do you?” would be crossing a boundary she wasn’t ready for. He could always give it to Tikki, hoping that Ladybug would believe whatever her mentor said as an excuse more than Chat’s likely feeble lie. He sighed, putting the bra-and-shorts set aside. 

He couldn’t figure it out. Ladybug trusted him to balance her on his shoulders without holding her up, she trusted him to lift her off a pole and to spot her while she hung eight feet in the air. She trusted him to help her escape from the occasional creep who decided to get too close. She trusted him, but she wouldn't let him get close. Max, their bartender, had apparently known Ladybug for several years outside of the mask, Princess, Timer, and Rena had all been hired after Ladybug had recommended them. In fact, Timer owed their entire non-binary act to Ladybug’s insistence that making them preform as someone they weren’t would undo a lot of progress their place had made on the local club scene. They were all friends outside of the club. 

As much as people teased him for it, that was really all he wanted. Cupid has suggested that Ladybug just knew about his massive crush on her, and didn’t want the possibility of dating a coworker. Max added that she also might not want to have to turn down such a good friend. 

Regardless of what his friends thought, he knew his Lady, and the fact this didn’t add up bothered him. When he finally confided in Nino where he worked and that he was interested in his coworker, Nino had simply said, “man, sounds like she’s got trust issues. You’re meant for each other.” Though he had initially disregarded that possibility, now he couldn’t help but wonder if there might be some truth to it. He never wanted to potentially make her feel unsafe around him. 

His alarm went off, reminding him to leave for practice. Carefully putting her costume in to the depths of his gym bag, Adrien set off. 

Once he reached the studio, he realized that it was just Tikki. She smiled at him from her place on the floor, and waved him over.

“Ladybug will only be joining us for an hour, so I figured you and I could start working while we wait for her to show up. How are you feeling?” Adrien hesitated before pulling out ladybug’s costume. Tikki gawked at it. 

“At the laundromat I use, I found her costume…” he said, handing it to the stunned woman. “I know she’s not super comfortable about her real name and stuff so I figured it would be less invasive if you were the one who gave it back to her.” Tikki placed it next to her purse, and sharply turned back to Adrien.

“I’m not one to give Plagg too much credit, but he is certainly right about you. Don’t worry Chat. She’ll get there.” Tikki said, patting his shoulder as she ignored his curious look. 

“Now. Let’s get started. My goal is that you will know two tricks before Ladybug gets here- one of them isn’t super challenging, but you need to own it to make it look good. So, for around the world-” Tikki continued on, taking Adrien through step after step, guiding him through shifting his bodyweight as smoothly as his namesake, and offering encouragement when it looked like his frustration might boil over. 

As he climbed to the top of the pole for the twelfth time in a row, he heard the studio door open. 

“Hey Tikki! Look at this cool sports bra I found, I was thinking of sewing it so the zipper was always a little down and then possibly- oh! Chat look at you!” Ladybug said, finally taking in her dance partner. Adrien had the impulse to argue with her.

Look at him? Him in a dude-bro tank and grey shorts? Look at her! Look at her with her high waisted spandex, diamond cutouts and all. Look at her with her pink and white crop top. Look at her with a new project already in mind. He grinned at her instead. 

“This cat learned how to climb!” he said, re-adjusting his grip. 

“What else has the kitty learned today?” She threw back at him, cocking a hip. 

“Well,” he said, slowly spinning himself to the ground, “I learned how to get down without the fire department.”

“Very impressive.”

“I learned how to get around the world in less than 80 days,” he continued, performing the beginners trick.

“Good,” Ladybug cooed.

“And, most importantly,” he said, wrapping a leg around the pole, “I learned I’m very,” he paused, leaning into a backbend, “incredibly,” he stretched a hand out, “flexible.” He winked, pointing his toes. Ladybug giggled, then burst out laughing. 

“Minou that’s the single best performance I’ve ever seen, bravo! Encore!” 

Tikki chose that moment to clear her throat, reminding the pair of her presence.

“If you two are done, how about we get started with the routine from last time, hm?” She said, eyes sparkling with the mirth of an untold joke.

 

Their hour of practice had gone fairly smoothly, Chat felt more confident in their movements, it felt less… ingenuine, than last time. Finally, they reached the point where Ladybug had wrapped her legs around Chat’s shoulders, and as he ran his hands down her arms, he could hear her breath hitch. 

His first instinct told him to stop, to check in, but as he slowed his hands he felt her push her arms into them, encouraging him on. Soon enough she had tuned out into her final splits, and he kissed her hand. 

“Graceful as always, my lady,” he said, raising his eyebrows, hoping to communicate his concern. She smiled breathlessly at him, giving him a thumbs up once he released her hand.

“You too minou, that run through felt so much more coherent than last time. I might even be okay performing it with a few larger stunts once we get into those. Tikki, I’m about to bail, I have to go customize that sports bra before opening,” she said, raising herself off the floor. 

“Oh, that reminds me! Someone brought this in. They said they had found it at a nearby laundromat, I’m assuming the one attached to your building. They brought it here because you have the Chez Nuit logo sewn on the back, don’t give me that look,” Tikki said, conspicuously making eye contact with a gobsmacked Chat. Ladybug grabbed the costume from Tikki, and said something in a tone too low for Chat to hear. Tikki rolled her eyes. “Lady, it’s fine. Go rest before your shift, I’ll see you later!”  
Chat watched as Ladybug left, an odd combination of a frown and an embarrassed smile. As the door shut behind her, he looked at Tikki.

“You told me it was her building on purpose. You know I live there.” He said slowly, not really as a question.

“Yes. Wayzz is a dear friend of mine and Plagg’s, and as the landlord of that building he can help us ensure that any of our dancers who live there are not being followed. While not all of the people who work for us live there, I believe about six of our staff does in total. Seven, if your roommate is hired.” Tikki smiled. “Adrien, I know it’s tough that she won’t let you in the way you want to. Please just be patient. She takes the safety protocol of Chez Nuit incredibly seriously. After all, she was the one Hawkmoth ended up hurting. She was just trying to help the dancer being stalked, but when she intervened is when he went from scary to terrifying.”

“Ladybug? I thought… I thought Hawkmoth was before she worked here.”

“It was before she worked as a dancer. Our bartender before Max, a guy named Theo, knew Ladybug from his day job as a sculptor. She was in a nearby studio working as a designer and tailor for a fantasy photographer, and could make the most amazing costumes- mermaids, fairy wings, haripes, you name it. She was complaining about not getting paid enough and came to work here. She pretty quickly endeared herself to quite a few of the staff, but one girl in particular. Chloe.” Tikki took a deep breath. 

“See, Chloe had this feeling she kept seeing a patron outside of work, at first just out an about, possible coincidences, but soon enough she was seeing him everywhere. He never signed his name, just with Hawkmoth, and always paid his tabs in cash, so we couldn’t file a police report. Ladybug decided it would be her job to walk Chloe everywhere. Then, Hawkmoth confronted her.” She smiled sadly. “She’s a brave one. She was just seventeen then. She didn’t become a dancer for another year, and by that time we had come up with the alias precaution. She had a big hand in creating it.”

“I never knew,” Chat said, still dumbstruck. Tikki shrugged. 

“Not many people do. She doesn’t like to talk about anything related to Chloe, especially not after they broke up. Anyway, let’s get to it. Today was better but we want to be the best!” And with that, Chat had the hardest two hours of his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes! I finally figured out how to have the illusion of angst! Plus ~backstory~


	4. Implications and Interviews

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Hey kitty, I hear you’re working on some moves, found any non-work related uses for them?” she asked, winking at him. He turned several shades of pink before shaking his head. “That’s a shame, I heard after enough practice they can really be a good selling point.” She smirked, now looking at a scowling Ladybug.

Marinette was a little freaked out. “Someone” had brought her beloved costume back to Chez Nuit, just in time for her 5:00pm shift. Things like that just don’t happen. When she had expressed her concern to TIkki, Tikki told her she would tell her who this mystery someone was at work.

Logically, Marinette knew that if Tikki felt there was no trouble, that there was none. Logically, Marinette knew that it would make sense if a co-worker she didn’t know lived nearby. Logically, Marinette knew that it could have just have easily been Wayzz helping her out. In her head, Marinette knew all of these things. 

In her heart, however, there were footsteps. Blonde hair and “please, stay away from her”’s. There was a man with a cane, who only got in one good hit, two foul slurs, and six months jail time in before disappearing from her life, only to reappear in the rarest of dreams. Marinette took a deep breath before entering her building. 

She knew she had to somehow take control of this situation in order not to have a paranoid spiral for the next week, and decided to leave a thank you note in the laundry room. She would wait for Tikki to tell her who to address it to, and leave the note.

Her stomach was performing complicated flips at the thought of who might receive it. Not because her fears were rising, but because maybe, just maybe, it had been Adrien who found her missing costume. He had apparently been doing laundry around the same time on that day, it wasn’t too far out of the question, and if that were true…

Could she be brave enough to invite him to a show? Sure, it was kind of a weird way to express interest in someone who didn’t know you were… you, but she hopped he might like to see the costume in action, so to speak. She shook her head.

Nonsense. She was just getting ahead of herself. Even if it were Adrien, she knew herself well enough that inviting him to see Ladybug would be a terrible idea for her self-esteem in the long run, just like how Alya had held off on telling Nino about her side job. Alya gave herself a deadline, after a month, she would have to tell him, but Mari wasn’t self disciplined enough to stick to an imaginary deadline like that.

She let herself fall into her sewing chair, deciding that she might as well customize what she had bought. Soon, she was completely engrossed in her work, only coming too when her food alarm went off. As she was reheating leftovers, Marinette took the time to examine her handiwork.

The sports bra was the sort that had a zipper down the front, a design element that would have been a pain to put in herself, but provided interesting opportunities as an aspect of the original garment. It was a dark red with a silver zipper, which now had been sewn to stay partially open, revealing more cleavage than is ever intended to be shown in a sports bra. She had added silver and black studs all along the bottom edge, leading to larger and larger metallic embellishments until there were five black circles, part of an old bangle collection, sewn on to the back with silver embroidery thread. 

The effect was slightly more punk than sexy, something Marinette had been particularly excited abou. This meant she could wear her tarnished silver looking shorts that had black and red lacing up the sides, a favorite for practicing in because of the flexibility the material allowed for. Quickly finishing up her food, she checked her phone, surprised to see two texts from Tikki.

Tikki (Boss), 3:40 PM: You’re not allowed to freak out. We can talk about it later, but for right now, just accept the facts.  
Tikki (Boss), 3:42 PM: It was Chat. He wanted me to give them back to you in case you felt like he had crossed a boundary. 

Marinette stared at the texts. Chat Noir, of all people, had been the one to find her costume. Chat Noir, of all people, had been scared to give her back her own clothes, because of boundaries. Chat Noir, not Adrien. Marinette didn’t know how to feel, but felt her body scrambling for a pen and a post it. She quickly scrawled a note, put together her work bag, and headed out.

***

Adrien slowly made his way up the stairs to his apartment. After practice, he had showered, tried to start meal prep for the week, realized he needed food, and proceed to go on a two hour excursion of Paris to find all the ingredients he needed that week. The door clicked into place as he tried to mirror the movements he had seen Mari do,hoping that the one thing separating him from his comfy couch would be on his side for once. Just as it seemed there would be no such luck, he heard Nino and Alya coming up the stairs. It looked like Alya had just gotten home from her office when she ran into Nino bringing his laundry up the stairs, and they were engaged in what appeared to be a lively discussion.   
Adrien normally would have felt bad interrupting, but nothing was going to stop him from getting inside. 

“Ninooooooooooo,” he whined, slowly tapping the bags of groceries against their door. “Ninooo please let me iiin, I’m dyiiiinggggggg,” he pouted. Nino shot him an anamused look while Alya giggled.

“Looks like your wife needs you, I’ll see you in a bit sweetheart,” she said, rising on her tiptoes to press a kiss to his cheek. Nino grumbled and moved to let Adrien in.

“Dude, you just need to get Marinette to teach you her magic ways.”

“She’s got magic hands,” Adrien replied. It took him a moment to register Nino’s stillness, and another for the color to rise into his cheeks as he realized the implications of his words. “That’s not what I meant! With doors! She has magic hands! Not with like, not with like knobs but specifically handles that are attached to hardwood surfaces! Not- Nino stop laughing- this is not funny, you know what I mean.” Adrien sighed with defeat.

“So, as I was saying, you just need to spend some quality time with Marniette and her magic hands.” Nino confirmed, giving Adrien a wide grin. Adrien shook his head, and followed Nino into their apartment.

“So dude, you look like shit. How was practice with your dear Lady? Or is it a problem to switch from talking to Mari to Ladybug,” Nino jested, wiggling his eyebrows.

“Nino, Marinette is just a friend, and Ladybug is right now too. Practice was the fucking worst man. Aside from the physical toll, I got so distracted thinking about giving her back her outfit that I forgot to verify your group interview!” 

“Dude, it’s okay, I had the first one like three hours ago. Oh hey, speaking of her outfit, I found this in the laundry room.” Nino fished a pink sticky note out of his pocket and handed it to Adrien.

CN, thank you for giving me my costume back. Also thank you for thinking about my personal space. I wonder how often we do our laundry together! -LB

Adrien read the note over several times before it clicked.

“Tikki told her! What the hell man!” He exclaimed to Nino, who sat with his eyebrows raised, waiting for the other shoe to drop. “Wait… this means she knows I live here. And I know she lives here. NINO. WE LIVE IN THE SAME BUILDING. I LIVE IN THE SAME BUILDING AS LADYBUG. I CAN FIGURE OUT WHO SHE IS!”

“And there it is,” Nino muttered, smiling at his suddenly energized friend.

“Oh my god who do you think she is? Maybe that dark haired girl on the floor below us? Juleka or something? Wait no, she has a girlfriend…”

“Also Juleka is five foot ten. You told me Ladybug comes up to your chest.”

“Dammit, who else is there?”

Nino shrugged, and started putting away the abandoned groceries. 

“Why don’t you just keep communicating through the laundry room for now, and focus on suspects later. Write her back!” Adrien stared blankly at Nino before wrapping him into a tight hug, pressing a sloppy kiss to his hat.

“Yes! I’ll write her another note! Perfect, oh man this is just PERFECT,” and with that, he disappeared into his bedroom, leaving a bemused Nino in his wake.

***

It was 11 after what felt like one of the longest shifts in Marinette’s life. There had been a last minute call for a group interview right as she got off her shift, so instead of completely changing, she threw on a red shawl and headed into the staff room. 

Most of the staff were already there, and Ladybug quickly took her normal spot next to Chat Noir. She was nervous. She wasn’t sure if he had found her note, or how he would react to it. He grinned as she sat down, and leaned close to her. 

“I’m excited, this is my best friend we’re interviewing. He’s going to do great!” He whispered to her, seemingly unaware of the rush of adrenaline the action gave her.

“I bet he will!” She squeaked out, catching Rena’s eye as she entered the room. Rena walked to the other side of Ladybug, giving Chat a high five as she passed.

“Hey kitty, I hear you’re working on some moves, found any non-work related uses for them?” she asked, winking at him. He turned several shades of pink before shaking his head. “That’s a shame, I head after enough practice they can really be a good selling point.” She smirked, now looking at a scowling Ladybug.

“Rena, if you cannot leave Chat alone you’re going to give him a stroke, look at this poor kitten!” 

“Poor kitten my ass,” a voice said near them. Chat broke into a wide grin, seeing Nino had donned a dark green mask and was wearing a similarly colored dress shirt with black pants. “I’m Carapace, nice to finally meet you Ladybug,” he said, bowing slightly. “And you too, Rena I assume.”

“Yessir. I take it our beloved Chat recommended you? Good luck dude.” Rena said, flashing a smile. “I thought about recommending someone myself, but I’ve only worked here a few weeks, my word doesn’t mean near as much as his.” She said, sticking her tounge out at Chat. He shrugged, not realizing he was still pressed up to Ladybug’s side. He shifted away slightly, and she found herself learning in to him instead.

“Well Carapace, welcome. I’m sure Tikki and Plagg have already talked you through what these look like, so why don’t you go ahead and take a seat, I’ll introduce you to everyone.” Ladybug said. Starting from the other side of Rena, we have Timer. Timer uses they them pronouns, and is a dancer. Then we have Cupid and Max. Cupid is one of our secruity servers, just like you would be. His boyfriend Max, the one in his lap, is the only person in the joint allowed to go by his first name. He’s our bartender. Then we Have Princess, a dancer, Paeon, another dancer and until Chat joined me, our only male dancer, The Boulder-

"Ladybug that’s not-”

“Fine, we have Granite, but it’s been voted that it’s a stupid name so we all call him the boulder, another security server, we have Madame Blueberry, another security server, Tikki and Plagg, who you’ve met, and Horror. She’s also a security server, but has been expanding her role into advertising as well.” Ladybug smiled, and turned back to face Carapace. 

“What do you think?”

“This is all pretty neat! I can’t help but notice y’all don’t have a DJ, would that be something I could potentially do?” He asked. A look went around the circle before chaos erupted.

“FINALLY!”

“CHAT YOU’RE THE BEST!”

“DUDE YOU’RE HIRED!”

“WE NEED A DJ SO BAD”

“HELL YES!” were all shouted by various voices, while other chose to just yell to contribute to the excitement. Ladybug beamed at Tikki and Plagg, who looked at each other and then nodded to her.

“Well then, it looks like it’s been decided. Welcome to the team, Carapace!” She said, minutely pounding fists with Chat.

 

After the meeting, the next shift had to set up, and Ladybug had finally packed up to head home when Chat caught her in the back hallway.   
“Hey LB, I just.. I wanted to say I got your note. I know it might’ve been scary to do that, and it just meant the world to me.” He said quickly, crushing her in a hug. Ladybug wrapped her arms around him, and let out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding in.

“Of course Kitty. I’m going to head home, I’ll see you tomorrow, okay!” She said, pulling away. He waved at her retreating figure. He felt a hand on his shoulder. 

“Hey Chat. I’m not sure what just happened, but you’re a good friend. She’s been stressed about something, and after you hugged, I didn’t see it there anymore. So, thank you.” Rena said. “I’m going to go chat with the newbie, you’re up for waiting tables right now!” 

***

 

“Hey Carapace. Real talk for a second. You remind me of someone.” Rena said, sitting down heavily next to him in an empty dressing room.

“I do? That’s funny, you remind me of someone too,” he replied.

“See, the problem is, you remind me of my boyfriend. My boyfriend who does not yet know I work here, because I wasn’t sure if it was going to work out. My boyfriend who had an interview for something earlier today.” She gave him an intense stare, which he seemed to wilt under. “So, my green masked friend. My question to you is… what is my name.”

He stared at her for a minute. Her expression said it wasn’t a joke or a trick question, but rather that instead of asking for his name, the confirmation would be him seeing past her mask. He smiled, and stood. 

“Well, let’s see. You have the right hair to be my girlfriend, though she never wears it up like you have now.”

Alya took her hair down from its ponytail without saying a word.

“You also have very similar voices and dispositions.” 

She smiled up at him, showing all of her teeth.

“And you have the same freckle pattern on your shoulders. So my conclusion, is that your name, is Alya.” He said, sitting back down with a smile.

Alya grinned, launching herself at him.

“Nino! I’m so excited, I wanted to recommend you but like I said earlier, Chat’s word has a lot more weight than mine, and as your apparent best friend…,” she said, trailing off.   
“Your best friend,” she whispered to herself, before gasping loudly. “Adrien is Chat Noir?!” She whisper yelled. 

“Um… yes… I suppose there's no real point in lying about it. This makes Marinette, Ladybug, right? I was suspicious because she left Chat a note in the laundry room, and you just don’t copy all of someone’s history notes for four years without being able to recognize their handwriting.” He said, laughing to himself. Alya stared at him with wide eyes.

“Nino, do you not understand what this means? Chat Noir is In love with Marinette, and Ladybug is infatuated with Adrien! Wait, what note?”

“Oh, Adrien found her Ladybug costume in with his clothes and gave them to Tikki to give to Mari, so Mari decided to thank Chat by writing him a note… and now they know they live in the same building…” he said, suddenly realizing why Alya’s expression was so incredulous.

“God they’re so fucking stupid. They can’t even piece together a simple puzzle like this!” She yelled. “It took us five minutes to figure it out!” She said, flailing her arms between them. Nino captured her hands and brought them to his lips.

“Al, hon, there’s nothing we can do about how stupid they are. Right now both of them are so scared of each other that if we intervene, they would likely explode, so let’s just sit and watch this shit show go down, 'kay?” Alya melted back into her boyfriends lap, letting out a deep sigh.

“Okay. As long as you know I’m going to encourage her to figure it out. And that I expect you too to.” Nino rolled his eyes, but made a noise of agreement.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I guess I can only update in this two chapters a day style? Who knows! Please let me know what y'all think! I got a little carried away imagining the Chez Nuit family...


	5. Close for Comfort

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will they figure it out? No. No they wont. Bless their hearts.

Plagg pulled Adrien aside close to the end of his shift with an unusually serious look on his face. 

“Look kid, I know Tikki gave you some of the information already, but that’s not enough. Come with me.” He said, Leading them into his office.

Tikki and Plagg technically shared this space, but Tikki preferred to work in areas where the other employees were. As a result, there were often neat stacks of papers and folder scattered throughout the club, all marked with red tabs. Plagg was the opposite. When he worked, he wanted to be as far away from other distractions unless it was quiet company- something he enjoyed immensely but never vocalized. Plagg gestured for Adrien to sit in the plush armchair that sat next to the desk, while he took his seat and pulled out a file from a drawer. 

“Okay. First off, you’ve got to understand that I’m telling you this because I know you’re in love with Ladybug, and I also know that you’re going to drive yourself crazy not knowing- okay?” 

Adrien nodded.

“Secondly, our club has been getting a lot of new patrons. A lot. I wanna be sure that we’ve got as many eyes on any patterns that are developing as possible, kay? You might not be my guard soon, but you are still the trainer, and if you get it, they’ll get it,” said Plagg, roughly pushing the file towards him. Hawkmoth was written in bold letters on it..  
“Study it. Talk to me about it. Trouble shoot. You’ve got till the end of your shift- go.”

 

***

Marinette woke up feeling pretty great. After all the nervous energy surrounding yesterday, she knew that ultimately her kitty had her back no matter what, and that made everything a lot easier. She stretched and swung her legs over the bed, blindly fishing for her phone. It was only ten o’clock and she didn’t have practice until three.   
Walking into the living room she thought about leaving another note for Chat. Not for any particular reason, though she did need to get working on his costume, but because she just wanted to talk. Or really, she just wanted someone to spend part of the day with her. She poured herself coffee and went about tidying the apartment, mindlessly humming to herself as she unloaded dishes and tried to clear off some of their cluttered spaces. 

Soon enough there wasn’t much else left to clean, and Marinette sat herself down on the couch. She knew that after practice it would be a long and tiring shift, and she itched to get a head start while still had the energy to do it all. She fingered through some of her most recent designs, and her eyes lingered on a small detail she had scribbled on one of the pages.

It was a vague outline of a pair of pants, something she had seen a male dancer wear during a pole competition. Most of the dance outfits at Chez Nuit were more on the lingerie side, simply because Marinette was confident in her abilities with lace and sewing less material meant being able to spend more time on embellishments. She twirled her pencil a few times as she considered the outline, then flipped to a new page. 

If she was going to make Chat a costume, she wanted it to be something that he wouldn’t get nervous in. Even though he was confident as could be during practice, she knew that the first times you went up on stage with less than twenty percent of your body covered, your mind often got consumed by the thought of potential clothing mishaps. He already was diving headfirst into this new territory, so she might as well make it as easy as possible on him.

The design slowly took shape as tight leggings that stopped just underneath the knee. They would be made from a slightly iridescent black material with a green overlay on the waistband and side seams. It was a simple design, much more so than anything recent she had made. She took a picture of it and sent it to Tikki for her opinion, and sat back on the couch.

She really wanted Chat’s opinion on it. He was a pretty showy person, and she wanted to make sure he would be okay with something so understated. She rolled her eyes, imagining his possible reactions. 

‘My body is surely enough to show off’ or ‘now my costume won’t distract from the real show’ flitted through her mind and she felt a slow smile grow on her face. That ridiculous cat would be fine. 

***

Adrien woke up feeling like shit. Plagg had filled him on everything that had happened with Hawkmoth and had patiently walked him through why having an increase in patrons meant they needed to increase their watchfulness, and now he was paranoid. He had practice at three and was anxious to talk to Ladybug about what he had learned. She always knew how to calm him down, and more than anything he knew that seeing her at ease during practice would soothe his nerves like nothing else. 

He got out of bed and padded lightly into the kitchen. Nino seemed to be gone, but he had made extra coffee and Adrien silently thanked his best friend for existing. Nino’s first night had gone remarkably well, but after Rena had gone and talked to him, Adrien kept catching the pair smirking at him. They had seemed to become friends remarkably fast, but Nino just laughed when Adrien asked him about it. 

His meeting with Plagg had mostly put their odd behavior out of his mind, but it was worth asking Nino about later. Adrien sipped his coffee as he flipped through his emails, and was surprised to see a message from Tikki.

From: manager.cheznuit@gmail.com  
Subject: Costume  
Message:  
Hello Adrien!  
I understand that Plagg talked to you last night, if you have any concerns please come and talk to us! Attached is an image I just recieved from LB- it’s her rough draft of your costume. Please come in to practice thinking about anything you might want to talk to her about for it!  
P.S. Will you two exchange numbers? It is so inconvenient to have to be your messenger owl.

 

Adrien blushed slightly, mumbling something about respecting his lady to the computer screen as he opened the attachment. It wasn’t what he was expecting. Peon and Timer both had very boxer-like outfits they wore for their routines, with Timer occasionally having a onesuit with the sides cut out for when their binder needed some touch ups. Both had bright colors and were all together very loud costumes- the exact opposite of what Ladybug had drawn for him. 

He knew logically that it likely had a purpose behind it, but Adrien deflated at the thought that Ladybug might want him to cover up more. It was silly, they worked at a strip club for heaven's sake, and Ladybug was probably the most comfortable with bodies out of anyone there considering her rather intimate knowledge of all of theirs. He bit his lip, and decided his brain just didn’t know what to do with the lingering paranoia. Practice wasn’t for another few hours,and he needed to do something to distract himself.

He threw on a shirt and sweats and decided to see if Marinette wanted to watch another movie. With Nino out, she would be his best option. Plus, a small part of him just wanted to see her. Their little party the other day had been so fun, and in light of all the Ladybug stuff he realized he really needed someone other than his Lady he could be so carefree with. Someone, he realized with a small twinge of guilt, that made him as happy. 

Naturally though, he assured himself as he raised a hand to knock on her door, Marinette was just a friend. No need to feel guilt, especially considering he and Ladybug weren’t even dating. And he hadn’t even really told her he was in love with her. And he was pretty sure she didn’t feel the same. He sighed.

 

The door opened quickly, and Marinette nearly walked straight into Adrien.

“Adrien! Hello! What’s up?” She said quickly, clearly surprised to see him. 

“Uh hey! I was wondering if you were free to watch another movie? I’ve got something at 2:30 but was bored and Nino isn’t home.” He said, slightly sheepish hearing himself say it out loud. She grinned and opened the door wider.

“Funny, I’m in just about the same situation. You can go pick out something, I was just running down to grab something from downstairs- I’ll be right back!” She said, already taking off down the stairs. He stared off after her before going into her apartment. 

Marinette was so comfortable with him even though they had only started getting to know each other a few days ago, and even though he knew he felt the same, it was still odd. 

He browsed the DvD collection without really taking any of the titles in, picking two for Marinette to choose between based on the color of their cases. He sat down in the spot he had been in last time, and looked around. 

The apartment was much brighter this time around, he noted. It looked like Marinette had opened all the windows and was letting in a small breeze. His attention was caught by a sketchbook sitting on the windowsill closest to him. The pages fluttered every so often, and a flash of orange piqued his curiosity. Before he could get any closer though,   
Marinette barrelled in, out of breath and holding a large bolt of fabric.

“Uh.. what's that for?” he asked, eyeing the green that was nearly the same height as the woman carrying it.

“Oh I’m just doing a project for a friend, he needs something done and this color that Jules- that's the girl on the floor, long black and purple hair, short girlfriend- had is going to be perfect!” She dumped it onto a desk and grabbed the sketchbook Adrien had been looking at. “I hope you don’t mind, I’m going to draw some while we watch. What did you pick?”

“I was thinking one of these?” He said, holding up a copy of Hercules and The Aristocats. Marinette pulled a face before pointing at the latter. 

“Let’s watch this once, Megera reminds me of an ex and I’m in too good of a mood to deal,” she said lightly. Adrien looked at her curiously.

“An ex girlfriend?”

“Oh, Nino hasn't told you? I’m surprised, he never really liked her and gives himself much of the credit for our break up,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Yeah, she and I were together for a year or so, but some stuff happened right when we first started dating and she couldn’t deal with both of our coping mechanisms.”

Adrien didn’t really know what to say. Marinette talked about it like there was nothing significant, but he couldn’t help but feel that the conversation could take a turn at any moment. Just as he opened his mouth to say something, she turned to him full on. 

“Sorry, I just realized that’s kind of awkward. I’m pretty bad about oversharing about our breakup, normally I just don’t talk about it at all, so when I do…” She shrugged. 

“No, it’s fine! I’m just glad you feel comfortable talking about it. And I suppose also I’m glad you’re out of that situation.” He added awkwardly. She beamed at him.  
“Thanks Adrien.” She said softly, holding his gaze before turning on the movie.

Adrien hardly paid attention. Marinette alternated between sketching and being fully engrossed in the movie, and he kept getting distracted by her. He had never met anyone who was so easily and completely genuine. Growing up his father and his cohorts were all poor examples of what friendship could be, and meeting Nino at university had been his first real experience of unconditional love. Even though it had been six years, Adrien still had a hard time always believing in Nino’s affection. Over the course of three days, Marinette had not only managed to make him feel entirely at ease, but also had swept away any fears of ingenuity before they even had a chance to creep in. 

At one point she seemed to get an idea, and flipped the page. For a brief second, Adrien saw the page with the orange drawing on it, and froze.

There was no way she had a page of orange and white leotards that just happened to look exactly like Rena’s outfits. There was simply no way. Marinette seemed to notice him staring, and flipped her sketchbook around. 

“Sorry, did you want to see? One of my friends needs outfits like this for her work, and she asked me to rework some stuff I had made earlier for her. I was working on an entirely new project earlier but can’t do much until I go to a meeting later today…” She said, eyes zeroing in on something she then erased. 

Adrien’s brain was on overdrive. Rena knew Marinette? They were friends? How close of friends? Did this mean she knew Ladybug? Did she know about him? He shook his head. No, if Marinette knew, she would have said something, but that still left the fact that she knew who Rena was. 

“Adrien? Are you okay?” Marinette asked, waving a hand in front of his face.

“What? Oh yeah, I was just wondering what job your friend has that she needs an outfit like that.” He said, desperately hoping she wouldn’t look too much into it. To his surprise, Marinette laughed.

“Adrien, Nino mentioned you were homeschooled, but at 25 I think you can guess what sort of jobs might have such a fun dress code. She’s a dancer at one of the clubs nearby.” She said, smiling graciously.

His mouth went dry. This is not how he was expecting this conversation to go. Marinette seemed so nonchalant and possibly even unaware of Chez Nuit policies on identity. Surely her talking about Rena like this was a violation? Maybe that was the case, maybe she just didn’t know the policy? Adrien tried to calm himself down and focus on the drawings she was showing him. He noticed that there were small notes like ‘make sure the ears match’ and ‘will show off her hips’ in the margins of the page. She was looking at him read them, and she seemed to suddenly remember something, and shut the book quickly. He looked up at her curiously.

“Sorry I realized I think I have her real name in there and that could be a problem. Should we finish watching the movie?” She offered as an explanation. Adrien nodded and they finished out the movie in relative silence. 

As the credits rolled, she got up and stretched. 

“I’ve got to head out soon, you said you’ve got a thing at 3?” 

“2:30,” he replied automatically. “Yeah, I suppose I should head out. Thanks for spending time with me Mari! I’ll catch you later.” She waved as he left, but he didn’t notice. He was too preoccupied with figuring out how to ask if Ladybug knew Marinette, and vice versa.

***

Marinette showed up to the studio with pens, a measuring tape, and some small circlets she had fashioned out of the green fabric from Juleka. She had pinned them together as a way to use up the nervous energy she had from nearly outing Alya to Adrien. She let her guard down way too much around him, and her best friend nearly had her stripper life outed to her boyfriend's best friend. After kicking herself for it, she decided that blonde boys with green eyes just reminded her too much of her partner, and that was why she felt comfortable enough with Adrien to show him her designs. 

Chat was already there when got there, and was being coached into what might have meant to be splits by Tikki.

“Chat, honey, you’re going to hurt yourself.”

“I can do this!” He replied with a huff, clearly straining. Marinette quirked an eyebrow, and quietly came up behind him. In one motion she dropped into splits next to him, and pretended to ignore Tikki rolling her eyes. 

“Chaton. Do you think I can do this because one day I decided to?” He looked at her, not completely meeting her gaze.

“Maybe! You can do anything!” He huffed. She swung one of her legs underneath her so she could turn to face him.

“No. I can do that because I’ve been training for years. You cannot just make your body do it in one day.”

“Ladybug is right Chat. She came in knowing how to do some of this because of gymnastics. You don’t have that same background.” Tikki chimed in. He bristled but moved to a more reasonable stretching position. “There we go. Now, Ladybug, I sent Chat your drawing, I’ll let you guys talk about it while you stretch, ‘kay?” The pair nodded. 

“So, what is your immediate thought? I’m gonna measure you while we talk, don’t mind me,” She said, immediately whipping out her measuring tape and wrapping it around his leg. 

“They’re a lot longer than I was expecting…” He said slowly, trying to to be too distracted by the feeling of her hands on his thighs. She made a noise for him to continue. “It’s not that I don’t like them, but I was expecting-”

“Underwear?” She supplied, motioning for him to stand up. “Yeah, I was trying to go for something that you wouldn’t have to worry about clothing malfunctions with.”   
“Oh, that makes sense. Um, in that case, I think that was really my only question.” He raised his eyes to the ceiling as Ladybug wrapped her arms around his torso to measure his waist. 

“About how high would you like them to come up then?” She said, sliding the tape an inch lower. “About here?” 

“Definitely not any lower” he squeaked. Ladybug looked up at him with an unimpressed expression. 

“You let me ride on your shoulders and you’re worried about my measuring tape being too low?” He blushed furiously, thankful that at least his body hadn’t been reacting the way his mind was to her hands. She let out a small laugh and stepped back. “Okay, well I’ll get started on them soon. They’ll probably be ready for you to try on Friday.” 

Tikki came back into the room carrying a few different bands and a mat. “Done? Perfect. We’re going to work on resistance for a little and then run through our routine, and Ladybug I’m going to teach you a few new positions while Chat practices his, alright?”

 

Throughout practice Chat kept thinking about ways to ask about Marinette. Once he finally worked up the courage, both Ladybug and Tikki stared at him. 

“You want to know if I know one of Rena’s friends, a girl named Marinette. “ She repeated back to him. 

“Um. Yeah. She lives in our building and I’ve run into her a few times, and Rena has mentioned her?” He lied awkwardly, cursing himself for not thinking it through. “I was just wondering because you two seem like you would be good friends…” he continued, wincing at his own dishonesty. 

For some reason unknown to him, Tikki burst out laughing. Ladybug glared daggers at her, which just made her laugh harder. 

“Chat you know I think you’re right. I’m going to let you two talk about this while I go get some water.” She said, not completely done laughing. Once the door shut behind her, Ladybug faced Chat. Instinctively, his hand shot to the back of his head and he looked at his feet.

“Sorry, I’m not really sure what just happened but that was a really personal question and you look like you don’t really want to answer.” He said, trying not to let his embarrassment get in the way of apologizing. He shut his eyes as he heard Ladybug take a deep breath, and slowly opened them when she didn’t say anything afterwards. He looked at her. 

“You didn’t do anything wrong. Rena must have been teasing you, I don’t know her.” She said after a moment. Adrien felt his shoulders droop a little, unable to stop himself from feeling disappointed that his lead to LB’s identity was cold. 

“Oh, that’s too bad. She’s really nice. We watched a movie earlier,” he said, completely unaware of how still Ladybug had gotten. “Anyway, show we keep practicing?”  
“Yeah, absolutely,” Ladybug replied, trying very very hard not to jump to conclusions.


	6. The Jump

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “I think I know who Chat Noir is. The thing is… I just can’t be right. There’s no way.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is sooooo not what I wanted it to be, but I re-wrote it twice and I just wanted the transition over with, so HERE IT IS.
> 
> Hope you like it!

“Alya I think I’m going crazy!” Marinette moaned, throwing herself on the couch next to her best friend. Alya looked up briefly, seeming unperturbed by the declaration.

“Any particular reason why? Or are you just realizing what I already knew,” she teased.

“I think I know who Chat Noir is. The thing is… I just can’t be right. There’s no way.”

Alya sat up, and stared at her friend. 

“Is that why you’ve been avoiding me for the last two days? Are you worried I’ll tell you you’re wrong? Or that you shouldn’t figure out who your reliable, trustworthy, cute-”

“Als! I’m being serious!”

Alya sighed and took out her phone. 

“Let’s hear it. I’ve got all my social media open to look up whoever you think it is.” She said, typing a quick heads up to Nino. 

“You’re going to laugh at me…” Marinette said, fiddling with the edge of a pillow she had pulled into her lap. “You won’t need facebook…” She continued, studiously avoiding Alya’s increasingly alarmed expression.

“The name?” Alya asked, her voice steady despite her eyebrows approaching her hairline. Marinette whined and put her face in the pillow. 

“Let me tell you why first! You’re gonna laugh if I don’t explain!” She muttered.

Alya quickly glanced at Nino’s reply and let out a small laugh. She had permission.

“Is it Adrien?” She asked, schooling her face into something closer to curiosity than the glee that had been there moments before. Marinette jerked her head up and stared wide-eyed at Alya.

“How did you know?”

“Oh honey, I fig-”

“It’s because you know it’s just wishful thinking, isn’t it. I swear it’s it’s more than that, Chat mentioned watching a movie with me-Marinette me, just after Adrien and I watched one? And then he lies about you telling him about me, I’m assuming it was a lie, you haven't talked to Chat using my real name have you? Oh I suppose it doesn’t matter, anyway, he didn’t realize it was me, he asked if I knew her for heaven's sake…” Marinette stalled, finally catching Alya’s dumbfounded expression. 

“Well babe… I don’t know what to tell you, it does sound compelling…” She said, shaking her head slightly as she typed on her phone. Marinette put her face back in the pillow.

“But they just can’t be the same person, that would mean that I like Chat.”

“You do like Chat, Mari.”

“Apparently I might!”

Alya put down her phone, ignoring Nino’s incoming call, and gently pried the pillow from her roommate. Marinette looked up at her.

“What if I told you I knew who Chat Noir was.” She began, watching for any signs of panic. Marinette didn’t move. “Would you want me to tell you if your guess is correct?”

“If you knew?” Marinette repeated. “Well… I… I don’t want to know. If I know then I have to do something about it, and our first performance is later this week and what if things are awkward because it’s not Adrien and I still don’t like Chat, or what if it’s awkward because it IS Adrien and I return his feelings! Basically there is no win here.” She rambled. Alya rubbed her temples, already anticipating the spiraling mess her friend could turn into.

“I’m gonna call Nino back. I swear, he’s right, we are your parents,” she grumbled, walking away. Before she closed her bedroom door, she smiled reassuringly at Marinette. 

“Mari. If it helps, after I found out, I only ship it more.” She only paused long enough to see Marinette’s face turn to indignant shock before shutting the door. 

Marinette wasn’t sure what to do with her nervous energy. It was buzzing just under her skin, crackling through her thoughts. She messed with her sewing for a minute before grabbing her gym back, and running out the door. 

Once she was at the studio, she was surprised to see Tikki and Plagg already there. Plagg was at the top of one of the poles, holding Tikki up with one arm. Their grip was on each other's forearms, and he maintained position while Tikki swung her legs up till they connected with the pole just under Plagg’s sit. Marinette couldn’t help but stare at the couple as they gracefully swirled and maneuvered around till they were both on the floor.  
“Honey, your mask?” Tikki asked. 

“Kid, you okay?” Plagg followed up with. “You haven’t come in outside of regular practice in a long while.” 

Marinette smiled.

“That was amazing you guys, can you teach me how to do that? Were you choreographing more, or was that just for fun?” She said. Plagg exchanged a look with his wife.  
“I’m fine worry warts. I just have stuff on my mind. I think I left my mask, I’ll grab one of the extra ones from my station. Back in a second!”

The moment Marinette left, Plagg turned to Tikki. 

“She didn’t seem upset.”

“Maybe she hasn’t done anything about Chat’s questions? It’s been nearly three days, I thought we would have heard from at least one of them before today.” Tikki responded, furrowing her brow. “Regardless, it tooks like you and I might not end up having to perform their first show. It was fun to practice with you again though.” She smiled, wrapping her arms around his waist.

He returned the embrace, and they stood intertwined in silence.

“I’m worried he’ll come back.” Plagg said lowly. “Adrien is up to speed, and what I heard of his briefing for the other kids, they’ll be aware of any patterns, but we were already careful Tikki.” She squeezed him, looking up until he made eye contact with her.

“Listen to me. It was not your fault. It will not happen again, because we know more, but also because he is not coming back. If someone pulls something, we are ready. It is not on you.” She held his gaze until he nodded, then nuzzled into his side.

Marinette came out a moment later, changed into workout gear and her mask, her hair in two even pigtails. Plagg made a comment about them before leaving the studio he paused in the doorway, listening to Tikki explain the mechanics of the sit plagg had been in, smiling softly before heading down the hallway. 

***

 

“Hey Nino, do you think Rena is friends with Marinette?” Adrien asked, absentmindedly fiddling with a cat toy. 

Nino slowly sat up, taking the headphones off from around his neck before turning to his roommate. 

“Why?” He asked, flipping through his messages from Alya earlier that day. They had only just called about Marinette’s near miss an hour ago, where he had talked Alya down off just telling Marinette. ‘They’re almost there Al, we can’t just drop it on them now.’ He had said. He regretted it now that they had switched places.

“I saw some of Rena’s outfits in a sketchbook Marinette had.” Adrien continued, frowning at the fuzzy boa in his hands. 

“Wait, did you and Marinette hang out again?”

“Oh yeah, we watched another movie.” Adrien suddenly sat up from his reclined position, facing Nino head on. “Wait a minute, she said she had a girlfriend! That you didn’t like! I was gonna ask you about it.” 

Nino grimaced. 

“Uh yeah, did she talk to you about her?”

“Kind of, I asked if we could watch Hercules and she said no cause Meg reminds her of her ex.” Adrien said, shrugging. Nino let out a breath and shook his head.

“Well. Okay. What do you wanna know?”

“Mari said you hated the girl.” Nino snorted at that.

“I did. I still do, she broke Mari's heart. You know how Mari and I have known each other a really long time?” He waited for Adrien to nod. “So Marinette has always been very popular, with everyone. She’s just a sweetie, makes it easy to trust her and stuff. She and I were kind of friends until the start of high school, and then Alya moved to our school. She and Alya became best friends, I became really close with Mari, then Alya-” Adrien quirked an eyebrow, stifling a laugh, “I know, I know, she’s just so pretty man! I was scared. Anyway, by the end of school, we had out little pack, and we had figured out how we were gonna stay friends for university and stuff. Mari needed to work nights in order to pay for school, and at her work, she met this girl.

“Now, full disclosure, I knew Chloe before she and Mari met. She was in a few of my business classes, and I never liked her. Just gave off a “holier-than-thou” vibe, a little like your dad really. Anyway, I don’t know where they were both working how they found each other, but Mari was smitten. Chloe was able to open up around her, be a real human instead of who she needed to be to impress her dad, and Mari… Mari just wanted to help.” Nino took a deep breath. “I lashed out a little. It felt like Chloe was threatening my family, because Mari would be gone longer and longer, without telling anyone where she went. She kept saying it was for work, but Al and I didn’t believe it. I told Mari she needed to start being honest with us again, that we were tired of being push away. I was kinda mean about it.”

Adrien patted Nino’s knee, sensing how guilty Nino still felt about it. They smiled at each other.

“Mari just kept saying we wouldn’t understand. There were so many red flags, I thought this girl was ending up abusive and controlling, I just.. I was interpreting the flags wrong. We found out after Mari ended up in the hospital that Chloe was being stalked, and Mari was just trying to protect her.”

Adrien jumped up. Startling Nino out of the memory.

“You said the girl’s name was Chloe?”

“Yes? Dude, you look like you’ve seen a ghost, are you okay?”

“What happened? Why was Marinette in the hospital?”

“The stalker attacked Chloe, and Marinette got in the way. She got the guy back for the hits he landed, that girl is fucking terrifying.” Nino said, trying to make sense of Adrien’s wild expression. Without so much as warning, Adrien tore off into his room before skidding back in with a manilla folder. 

“Is this him?” He said breathlessly, flipping open to a mugshot. Nino gaped at the folder, then back up at Adrien. 

“What… what just happened?”

“Marinette is Ladybug.” was all Adrien could say, before tearing out of their apartment, leaving Nino framed by an open door.


	7. The Fall

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Tikki, I never finished Chat’s costume! I mean, it’s done, but he hasn’t even tried it on!” She started to move up off the floor, but Tikki put a hand out. 
> 
> “Y’all have communicated through the laundry room, right? If he shows up, just tell him it will be there. If it doesn’t fit, then we can figure it out tomorrow. It’s not worth getting worked up over right now.” Tikki said calmly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please let me know if you guys have any predictions for the end! Would you like to have a chapter of just my backstory ideas that I couldn't work in? Please let me know! I might also include drawings of how I figured out the routines and the outfits... Enjoy!

Mari was flying. Not quite literally, but for the first time in what felt like ages she found herself high up off the floor, a tight sit anchoring her to the bronze pole while she was in a layback. She had in headphones, letting the music help her control her breathing as she counted through the hold. 

Tikki was in the corner of the studio, occasionally offering pointers and advice, but mostly working out the set list for their opening weekend. Saturday was just around the corner, and she still wasn’t convinced everything would go smoothly within the next twenty-four hours. Just as the thought crossed her mind, she saw a sweaty and un-masked Adrien tear around the corner. 

Thinking quickly, Tikki bolted off the floor and out of the building, Catching Adrien before he made it inside. Without a word, she dragged him around the corner, out of view of the windows of the studio. 

“Tikki I can’t find her anywhere, is she in there with you? Is everything okay?” He panted, looking over her five-foot frame. She looked up at him curiously.

“When did you figure it out?” She asked in lieu of answering any of his questions.

“Figure out that Ladybug is the girl who lives across from me you mean?” He asked, slightly breathless. “About thirty minutes ago.”

Tikki nodded, thinking it over. 

“Have you had a chance to process that?”

“That I know who the love of my life is? Tikki what more do I need to process? I have to go talk to her!” His face shifted into the slightly panicked look it had when she first saw him through the window. “Wait, she is in there, right? I don’t want to be paranoid but if I can't find her I’m worried something happened-”

“Yes, Adrien, honey she is in there. I think you need to calm down a minute and think about this before you burst in there, unmasked, in case she falls from the ceiling. Okay?”

Adrien look a deep breath, then looked up and laughed, raking his hand through his hair. 

“She’d be so mad if I came in right now. You’re right. Is Plagg in? I’ll go talk to him about it.”

“That's a good idea, he’s been worried about you two, even if he doesn’t seem like it.”

“I thought you had just cut off his cheese habit again,” Adrien teased before walking around the back of the building. Tikki let out a breath and chuckled to herself.

Walking back into the studio, it seemed like Marinette hadn’t noticed anything, and was now singing along to the music she had playing. Tikki motioned for her to come down, laughing at the way she had decided to roll down the pole. 

“Alright dear, I have a feeling Chat will also be coming by to work off some day-before nerves, so don’t exhaust yourself out, we can run through your routine if he shows up. Why don’t we just do some stretches for now?” Tikki said, already taking Marinette’s phone from her and plugging it into the studio sound system. 

“Sounds good to me, I don’t want extra bruises for tomorrow,” Marinette laughed in reply.

The pair sat on the floor in front of the mirrors, talking lightly about things related to the studio and the other performers. Tikki was doing her best to let the conversation flow wherever Marinette needed it to go, but she seemed content to talk about what future she saw for the other dancers, and they had just finished talking about a possible new routine for Alix when she suddenly gasped.

“Tikki, I never finished Chat’s costume! I mean, it’s done, but he hasn’t even tried it on!” She started to move up off the floor, but Tikki put a hand out. 

“Y’all have communicated through the laundry room, right? If he shows up, just tell him it will be there. If it doesn’t fit, then we can figure it out tomorrow. It’s not worth getting worked up over right now.” Tikki said calmly, watching Marinette slowly sink back down onto the floor.

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. I’m sorry I forgot Tikki, it’s been a very… confusing couple of days.” She said, looking down at the floor. Just as she opened her mouth to say more, the back door opened. 

Plagg and Chat stood in the doorway, a bright red flush peeking out in stark contrast to the black of Chat’s mask. Marinette closed her mouth and turned to face the pair. 

“Tikki, he will not let me work. Tag, you’re it!” He huffed, pushing Chat closer to the women on the floor. There was a beat of uncomfortable silence before Ladybug started to laugh.

“You nervous about tomorrow to, huh kitty?” She said, beaming up at him. He made a small strangled sound in response, before turning it into a small laugh.

“Uh yeah, I guess I might not be as confident as I thought it would be that it’ll all go according to plan…’ He said, catching Tikki’s eye. She nodded at him, mouthing ‘good.’ “So I thought I would come and practice?” He followed with, letting a hand fly to the back of his neck as he avoided Ladybug’s kind gaze.

“Well, I have something that might help! I finished your costume except for tailoring, I’ll leave it in the laundry room for you to try on tonight!” She said, reaching for his hand to pull him on the floor. He thudded ungracefully next to her, still somewhat avoiding her eyes. “If it doesn't fit well, I’ll fix it tomorrow morning, you can just bring it here.” She continued, seeming unaware of his increased blush. 

They stretched in a tense silence, with Marinette throwing concerned looks at Tikki, while Chat seemed to be pleading with himself to stay calm. Eventually, Tikki couldn’t handle it, and coughed. 

“We’ll I think we’re all warmed up, why don’t we run through the routine and then work on our transitions, hm?” She said, not at all as a question. The pair of messes quickly agreed, and headed over to the poles. 

Soon, the blush had faded from Chat’s cheeks, and they were both able to focus completely on their motions. Tikki watched, occasionally calling out a reminder to point toes, but mostly just stood, impressed at how far their technical skill had come in such a short period of time. It was true that Chat was essentially acting like another pole for Lady, but both of them had such an awareness of each other that made it seem like they moved as part of one mind. 

Soon enough, Ladybug was in splits on the floor, and Chat habitually kissed her hand. She waited for it to be followed by a quip, but instead he just smiled softly, his eyes shining with adoration. She blushed, and caught up quickly off the floor. 

“Well, I didn't think about it, but we’ll need to figure out how to get you up off the floor without you looking… without you doing what you just did, but overall everything looked great. Let’s work on that ending a few more times, figure out what works, and then I need you two to go home! Get rest!” Tikki said, pulling at the ribbons in her hair. The pair nodded, and set up for the last dismount again. 

Drilling it went well enough, and they decided that instead of Ladybug ending up on the floor, Chat would pull her up to standing in the last beat of the song. They were out of breath as they held their last pose, pulled close together with Chat’s hands firm against her hips, her hands braced against his shoulders. She looked behind her to give Tikki her final look, intending to be sultry. Instead, Tikki giggled, the noise causing the pair to break apart. 

“Tikki! That’s not reassuring!” Ladybug pouted, pulling her hair out of the pigtails it was in. “It’s because I look like a 13 year old, isn’t it. Ugh, I’ll be wearing my hair different tomorrow!” She said, huffing over to her bag. 

“Aww, I like the pigtails. You used to wear them so often Bug,’ Chat teased, tossing her a water bottle. “They’re so cute!” She glared at him, tipping her head over and pulling her hair into a high ponytail.

Once it was secured, she packed up her work bag with a few other words to Chat, before hugging Tikki and waving goodbye. When the door shut behind her, Tikki turned to Adrien, who slid to the floor with a whine.

“Plagg wants me to wait until after tomorrow night to tell her!” 

“I want you to wait until then too.” Tikki said, hardly sparing him a glance as she went to work, picking up the studio.

“But Tikki!”

“No buts! You waited too long, now you’ll have to wait a little longer. Your routine look amazing, but if either one of you is off, it’ll ruin it. This means a lot to both of you, I know it’s not your number one priority right now, but that doesn’t mean it isn't hers. Understood?” She said, finally turning to look at him. He nodded. “Good. Now help me clean up.” She said, smiling sweetly. He laughed and pushed off the floor. 

After helping out Tikki, Adrien made his way back to his apartment. He remembered to look into the laundry room, and smiled as he saw a pair of black and green leggings hanging off an out-of-service dryer. There was a sticky note attached to it, with just a heart and a doodle of cat. 

Adrien preened. Even if she didn’t know who he was, Marinette really did care so much, and he supposed he could return the affection, just a little, by waiting. He scrawled a thank you on the back of the note, and stuck it back on the dryer. After a moment’s hesitation, he scrawled another note underneath it. 

“Meet you after the performance? Sans masks?” it read. He drew a little ladybug, and headed upstairs. 

***

It was five o’clock on Saturday evening, and Marinette could not keep still. She had gotten Chat’s note when she left for brunch with Alya that morning, and had thought about it ever since. She sat at her sewing desk at the back of her dressing area, fiddling with a piece of scrap lace when there was a knock at the door. 

Chat’s head peeked through, and he entered fully when he saw she was there.

“Hey bug! The leggings fit great, I just wanted to check that you were happy with them,” he said, stepping close to her. She stared at him with her eyes narrowed. “Uh… Bug? Everything okay?” He asked. She snapped out of her private reverie and looked at the fit of the costume.

“Wow, it’s way more snug than I was imagining, is it not too tight?” She fretted, pulling at the border around his knees. 

“I think I bulked up a little from all the practice, but they’re really comfy.” He said, looking down at her. Her eyes were trailing up his legs and onto his chest, resting on his arms before she reached out and gave one of his biceps a squeeze. He choked. 

“I guess you have, though you were already pretty buff before, kitty.” She said, ignoring Chat’s reaction to her inspection. “Right, well if you’re already in costume, I suppose I should be too. Shoo while I get ready.” She looked at him where he had frozen after she had touched him, and it took her lightly pushing him towards the door for him to actually leave.

“I uh, yeah- I’m going, bye!” He stammered, closing the door behind him. As he turned, he was met with a pair of amused eyes.

“Carapace tells me you figured it out, cat-boy.” Rena said, her eyes glowing with mirth. 

Looking between Carapace and Rena, Chat slowly put his head down.

“Alya.” He said, looking at the floor.

“Ding-ding, 20 points for the blonde gentleman blushing to his ears,” She sang, flicking one of his clip on ears. 

“So dude, heard about the note you left, did she say anything to you?” Nino said, looping an arm around his friend as they walked down the hallway. “Cause she said-,”

“No she didn’t say anything, I don’t want to know what she said to Rena. We talked about the fit of my costume.” He said, shooting a warning look at his friends. 

“And fit does it! You look ripped dude,” Carapace said while Rena nodded appreciatively. 

 

They continued jesting as they walked towards the main room, where the rest of the staff was busy setting up. They all sprang into action, clearing the stage, setting up the last minute touches to the tables, and helping Max set up the bar. Soon enough, the entire room was transformed from a mod-club to a glimmering black-and-white venue.   
Rena had continued to tease Chat throughout set up, with occasional help from Carapace when he came down to get things for his DJ booth. It was technically still their surveillance camera room, but Nino had wired it to be duel function, something he was particularly proud of. 

When Ladybug finally appeared out on the main floor, Timer was the first to announce it. 

“Damn girl, spread those wings!” They had shouted, causing everyone to look over at Ladybug. She had attached swathes of sheer silk that ran from her shoulder blades to her wrists, looping so she still had her arms bare for contact with the pole. She struck a pose with her arms out wide and her hips cocked, a red smirk finished the look off.  
Rena mimed swooning, while Max and Cupid let out a series of wolf-whistles. Their theatrics made Ladybug giggle, and she immediately switched from femme fatale to a bubbly bundle of love.

“Aww you guys, way to make a girl feel special.” She laughed, kissing Rena on the cheek. “This place looks amazing, I’m so glad those chair covers came out well. You guys have done an amazing job!” The praise seemed to make the rest of the staff glow. 

“Seconded. I’m so proud of all the work that has gone into tonight, from everyone. Plagg and I would like to share a few words before opening.” Tikki said, coming out of the back with Plagg in tow.

“First, thanks. You all are what keep this club going. Second, we have to be vigilant tonight. We are expecting around a hundred plus people here tonight, that means we will be at capacity. I know it’s easy to be swept up in the crowds, but it is our job to keep everyone, patrons and staff alike, safe.” Plagg said, keeping his posture nonchalant, his voice taut. 

“Also, because of the crowd, we will need to be especially careful to keep the bar stocked.” Tikki added, getting a salute from Max. “That means I want at least once person in charge of checking in on Max and how he’s doing. Not you Cupid, you’ll be too thorough and we need you on the floor,” She followed hastily, ignoring the pout on his face. 

“Madame Blueberry, can you take it?” The dark hair girl nodded, her bob bouncing in time. “Perfect. Alright everyone, I have full faith that today will go off without a hitch. We can handle anything that comes up. We have done a great job of keeping this place a comfortable and safe environment for all, and our patrons appreciate it.”

“So keep it up. Good work so far, and and good work is what you’ll still do. Speeches over, let’s get going.” Plagg said, letting a small smile creep over his face.   
There was a small cheer as The Boulder stepped outside, acting as a bouncer until they reached capacity. Everyone took their places, and the dancers scampered off to their waiting areas, letting the crowd build.

***

The night had been going off without a hitch, every act had been well received by one of the best crowds they had had since Rena’s debut. Big events always brought in supportive crowds, as their club was one of the most accessible for any crowd out of any in their area. Finally, it struck midnight, and the lights dimmed, only to rise again with Chat and Ladybug on the stage.

The crowd cheered and screamed as the music started, and Ladybug lifted herself on top the pole, above Chat’s head. They worked seamlessly through their routine, remembering to send their intense looks to the audience instead of each other, Chat occasionally adding in a freestyle bit of floor work when Ladybug’s holds looked secure enough that he didn’t have to worry about being a spotter. 

Ladybug leaned into the layback as Chat crawled along the floor, allowing her fingers to skim his chest, which he followed up as if her touch were a magnet. She looked so at peace up there, Chat couldn’t help but feel at home as well. His pre-show nerves slipped away with every passing beat, and before he knew it, he was pulling her up off the floor, pressing her against his chest while the song ended. The lights flashed as the crowd cheered, their lingering looks out giving him a moment to catch his breath before pressing a kiss to Ladybug’s forehead.

A small chant of “Ladynoir” erupted from the crowd as they separated and bowed, something that normally would have felt awkward and forced in their club setting but seemed natural in the moment. They exited the stage, breathless.

As soon as they had rounded the corner, Ladybug turned away from him. He touched her shoulder, and heard her chanting “do it,” before she spun around, untying her mask as   
she went. 

“Hi.” She squeaked when she met his gaze. He beamed. “I got your note.” She continued in a small voice.

“Hi Marinette,” he said, pulling his mask off too. “It’s nice to meet you for… the third time now I guess,” he chuckled, looking up at her. She blinked a few times, long enough for Adrien to worry that she was disappointed, before she reached up, bringing his lips crashing into hers.

“I fucking knew it,” she breathed once they parted, making Adrien burst into laughter.

“I figured it out yesterday.” He admitted, still laughing. “I can’t believe I asked you if you were firends with yourself.”

“I was gonna kill Tikki for laughing,” she grumbled, rolling her eyes. She intertwined her fingers with his, looking up at him again. “Can we go sit in my room and talk? My legs are killing me,” She asked, blushing slightly. 

“Of course, my Lady,” he said, bowing.

They walked down to her door with their fingers intertwined, laughing at their shared ridiculousness. Mari opened the door, pulling him inside with her back to the room.

“About time.” Said a voice behind them. Mari whipped around and froze.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So whenever I use the phrase "eyes shining" I ALWAYS think of that bit in GoF when Harry is like "My eyes are not shining with the ghosts of my past!!!" So if it's obvious I thought the phrase was funny, OOPS. 
> 
> A super big thank you to everyone who has been so kind and dedicated to commenting on this story, it's so encouraging to know y'all are out there! 
> 
> Also thanks to my best friend for helping me decide what's happening at the end of the chapter, and all of the next. Y'all can scream at her/ read her AMAZING work [here!](https://archiveofourown.org/users/yestomiraculous/pseuds/yestomiraculous)


	8. Landing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Now now, is that any way to treat someone who came all this way to see your opening night? You’ve come such a long way- though I see you couldn’t persuade my dear Bee out of our bargain.” He sneered, fingering a black and purple butterfly in his hands. Marinette tore herself out of Adrien’s grip, and he launched the ornate blade towards her with a flick of his wrist.

“You fucker.” She snarled, immediately moving to lunge towards the man sitting at her dressing table. Before Adrien could process what was happening, Marinette let out a scream, clutching her arm close to her.

The man in her chair tutted, slowly rising to his full height. He had a grey suit with a purple tie and pocket square, the latter was adorned with an embroidered butterfly in black. Adrien hadn’t recognized him right away, but once the man made eye contact he felt his skin crawl. He pulled Marinette tighter to him, flicking his eyes down to a gash on her left bicep that had appeared.

“Now now, is that any way to treat someone who came all this way to see your opening night? You’ve come such a long way- though I see you couldn’t persuade my dear Bee out of our bargain.” He sneered, fingering a black and purple butterfly in his hands. Marinette tore herself out of Adrien’s grip, and he launched the ornate blade towards her with a flick of his wrist. 

She swerved just as Adrien had moved to block it, both being more prepared than when the first had sliced through her skin. Adrien yelled for Plagg as he tried to grab Marinette away from her attacker, but she was faster and smaller, and had the benefit of predicting his movements. She ducked underneath his arm, appearing in front of the tall man with her teeth bared. She swung up at him, a wild throw to distract from the firm strike she delivered to his chest. He fumbled a step backwards before reaching for his cane, something Marinette had been anticipating.

“You dare show up here,” she growled, dodging his first swing, “you dare mention her,” she spun, elbowing him where his attempted strike had left him unguarded, “and you think it’s wise to mock me?!” She bellowed, gripping the middle of the cane and pivoting her body so he stood between her and Adrien. He righted himself just as Adrien rushed towards him, grabbing one of his arms and hooking his elbow around the man’s neck. 

Suddenly, Adrien’s nose was slammed by the back of the man’s silver hair, causing his hold to falter. Marinette took advantage of the change and once again gripped the cane, using the force of his hold on it to pull him down, connecting with her knee. The man groaned but quickly tore away from both of his assailants, backing towards the open door.

“You seem to have fallen for another blond, I do hope this one is equally ready to leave you.” He muttered, brandishing several more of the butterfly shaped blades. “Though it does seem this departure won’t be as neat as last time, such a pity.” 

Adrien didn’t even see the motion, but pain scorched though his leg, leaving a scarlet trail to guide his fall to the floor. Marinette screamed, but stopped in her tracks when she saw the man raise the other blades in warning.

“You stand there-” he hissed, “or the replacement will need a very different seamstress.” Marinette glowered, tears pricking her eyes as she shook with fury. “Better,” he smirked, “don’t you want to know why I’m here?”

“Clearly you haven’t ruined enough lives,” Marinette spat, raising her voice. “When will it be enough Hawkmoth? Surely enough would have been stalking a young girl, or preying on her family rejecting her. Surely enough would have been attacking her, or bribing a judge to get off scot free.” She faltered, her voice cracking. “Surely, it would have been enough after telling her you would accept a minimum sentence if she broke up with the girl who put you behind bars. Surely…” she repeated, eyes falling to the ground.   
Adrien looked back up at her, his vision cloudy from blood loss. She seemed to be trying to tell him something with her expression, but all he could gather was the deep sadness this person had caused her. He began to open his mouth, but she snapped her head up for a reason Adrien couldn't understand. He blinked and felt a heavy weight on his leg, slowly looking for the source, he met Plagg’s gaze and felt a wash of relief come over him. 

Marinette watched as Plagg, Carapace, Granite, and Cupid crowded the hall behind Hawkmoth as she spoke, hoping her voice would cover the noise she made. She dropped her head in an attempt to tell Adrien help was there, but his eyes were barely open as he continued to bleed out of the deep gash in his thigh. The theatrics did their job however, and as soon as the three younger boys grabbed Hawkmoth, Plagg rushed over to Adrien. 

Marinette strode towards the immobilized man still struggling against his captors. She stood in front of him until he raised his head, forced to crane his neck from the angle they were holding him down at. Marinette reeled back, punching him in the face. The boys all grimaced, sharing a look between them about the girl who stood before them; they would not interfere.

“Listen here Hawkmoth. Here’s how this is going to go. You are going to be arrested. You are going to be charged. You will be found guilty, and you will go to and stay in jail.” She said lowly. “From there, you will rot, far away from everyone you could ever hurt again. Are we understood.” The man growled in response. It was enough for her. She nodded at the men holding him, who muscled him through the hallway where police were already arriving.

Marinette dropped to the floor next to Adrien and Plagg, just in time for the first-aid team to rush in. She watched as he was loaded onto a stretcher, and it wasn’t until another medic asked about her arm that she felt the full weight of the evening, and allowed herself to break into sobs as her arm was bandaged.

***Several months later***

Marinette was tapping a pen against her notebook, her headphones filling in the melody between the seemingly erratic beat. She was stuck on a design for the newest member of the club and their design was stuck in between her imagination and the page. She saw a shadow appear on the page and looked up.

Adrien captured her lips as she tilted her head, and he felt her sigh against him. He pulled back just enough to see her bright eyes shine up at him. He blushed under her gaze, and gave her another peck before she noticed.

“Whatcha doin?” He asked, coming around the couch to sit with her. She put her notebook down on the table and curled into his side.

“Tikki asked me to talk to the new kid and I wanted to design something nice for them to wear for their first performance, but I got stuck.” She huffed into his shoulder, humming has he wrapped his arms around her. “You know you don’t have to do that, you’ve got other stuff to do,” he teased, flipping to a different page that was full of choreography notes. She groaned as he laughed, both of them oblivious to the door opening behind them.

“Are we having a cuddle puddle?” Nino said, setting down his load of groceries as Alya did the same. “I call dibs on being the middle!” 

“Mari, it looks like you have a letter from the courts,” Akya said, moving past her all too excited boyfriend. Adrien felt her stiffen at his side, and he rubbed her shoulder as she reached for it.

“O-oh. Would you mind opening it?” She said meekly, appreciating how patient her friends had been since the night Hawkmoth had been caught again. Alya tored through the paper and shuffled the contents, scanning it before letting out a loud whoop.

“You did it! Not only was it decided that he should be charged on bribing the courts last time, but he got the maximum sentence for both convictions. It's shit that you couldn't attend the hearing about the bribery, but Chloe really did a great job. You should be proud Mari.” She hugged her best friend over the couch. 

“I can’t believe Chloe became such a kick-ass lawyer.” Nino said, taking the letter from Alya and reading it. Adrien squeezed Marinette and smiled softly at her.

“We should celebrate this all being over. Who wants take-out?” He asked, hoping the extended company would be good for her. She nodded, and soon enough Alya and Nino had headed back out to pick up food from their favorite spot.

Once the door had shut, Adrien turned fully to Marinette. 

“Hey, you okay?” He asked, letting his thumb run over the scar on her arm. She leaned into his touch and let out a shaky laugh.

“I’m really happy, don’t get me wrong. It’s just..” She trailed off, feeling tears well in her eyes. “You know, the real life nightmare is over, but will the rest of it be? I can’t, you know I can hardly sleep, and it…” she sniffed, “I got through the initial anxiety once before, I know I can do it again, but every time something is tossed towards you…” She looked at him, surprised to find his eyes wet too.

“I know bug. Me too. But we have each other this time, and some pretty amazing therapists-” she laughed, “and this time, there's no questions left.” He finished, holding her hands in his. “We know where he is. We know where we are, where we’re going, and who is on our side. We know we are safe.” He said, pressing a kiss onto her hands. She looked at him for a moment before letting her shoulders ease back down, once again curling into his side. He kept their fingers intertwined as she focused on their breathing, a grounding exercise that had been most helpful for the nights she woke in a cold sweat, unsure if the body next to her was real. 

Adrien controlled his breathing to be in time with hers, and soon enough the pair had slipped back into their current life. No complications or questions, just a fresh pile of laundry waiting to be folded, and a pair of intertwined hearts keeping each other on a steady beat.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's it! This is my first multi-chapter story and over all I think it came out pretty alright! I hope you all enjoyed the ride, I really didn't expect for the story to go the direction it did but oh boy did it go. 
> 
> Let me know if the fight scene is actually clear by the way!


End file.
